Northwest Early College High School student Aya Abdelgawad has once again received recognition as an emerging woman in technology. This week, the office of Representative Beto O'Rourke announced that she won the Congressional App Challenge for the 16th Congressional District.

Every year, Congressional representatives invite middle school and high school students to create and submit their original mobile apps for a chance to win the app challenge. The contest inspires students to explore science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), along with coding and computer science.

Abdelgawad’s Just Breathe app helps users relax and gain good stress management techniques. She explained what inspired her to create the app.

“It started with a school science project on mental health,” Abdelgawad said. “I wanted to create a relaxed atmosphere in a way that is available to people at all times.”

The aspiring developer demonstrated that the app, available for Android, is targeted toward students. It contains options for breathing and stress management techniques on a daily basis.

“From here, I want to make it compatible for IOS users and add additional strategies like attitude, spiritual, and more breathing exercises,” Abdelgawad continued.

This congressional award is just the latest in a string of awards that Abdelgawad has earned recently. Earlier this year, she was selected as a 2018 Greater El Paso Affiliate of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Honorable Mention Award for Aspirations in Computing. She is also a member of the Canutillo ISD student IT tech team and led the Chica Code Camp this summer where young ladies learned coding.